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so what is the concept we are discussing today
well happy birthday Earth Day I'd like to talk about it's the fortieth earth day in the united states and so i'd like to talk about
environmental policy making
so how did Earth Day come about
in 1970 Earth Day was started as a teach in
and by now 2010
Earth Day is recognize in over 180 countries
as a way to educate people about environmental issues
so is Earth Day in the news
yes it is
as Earth Day events pop up around the country
the media
recognizes those events and also the reactions to those events
and predictably the new Conservative Tea Party
movement
is denouncing Earth Day
denys global warming for the most part
and I even found a commentary on their web site
where one of their members was
urging Christians to avoid Earth Day celebrations
as "pagan rituals that
worshipped
the planet earth instead of God"
which of course contradicts other mainstream Christian religions
like Catholism where the Pope says it's a sin to waste natural resources and things like that
but does that
does that reflect the majority of American views
no most Americans
do support
environmental
reforms
and things like recycling
and little steps that we can all do to help conserve natural resources
So what is President Obama doing about Earth Day today how is he....well it's interesting because even though Americans
do care about environmental issues
they tend to care more about things like
wars being waged and the economy worsing
so President Obama is actually on Wall Street today discussing financial reforms
he is not spending the day commemorating Earth Day and that is a reflection of the fact that
even though Americans do favor environmental reforms
the issue isn't as salient to them as some other things
and what I mean by that is
as wars are waged and the economy worsens
those issues tend to affect Americans more on a day to day basis
so
whereas ocean pollution might be killing species of fish
Americans see their fellow
Americans being killed in wars and care about that more
as global warming
changes our climate by the decade
you know Americans care
more day to day about paying their mortages
and buying grocies after they've lost their jobs
so it's challlenging to keep environmental issues on the forefront of public policy
what do you think that the appropriate role for the federal government to play regarding
environmental issues when
Americans think other things are more important
that's a good question they's always a question whether the government should
simply follow public opinion or should try to shape it and certainly congress tends to respond
to public opinion because they get re-elected so often
and the president gets re-elected too but he has a unique ability to speak to the American people and to shape their
priorities like he did with health care reform
so I think that the president has a unique responsibility to convince people
look you now envirionemental issues are still important even though these other things
are also on the foreground and in your day to day lives
so what should students consider as they follow this story
students should consider
what the proper role of
the President should be when he's exercising Presidential leadership
and the federal government as a whole in terms of environmental policy making
should the government merely follow public opinion as it changes
or is their responsibility for the President to educate people and convince them that yes
environmental reforms are important
things like the Clean Water Act
the Clean Air Act
students should consider
how could the President convince people of this
what would be the best way
for the President to convince people to care about the future of the environment
as they handled all their day to day problems
today